Twelve. Acosta Danza

Jorge Crecis’s Twelve is irrepressible good fun, with the dancers executing mathematically exact routines while slinging around bottles of water.

Laura Freeman. Standard

Twelve is a “dance-sport” piece. Water bottles litter the stage, each with a neon light tube. The company lob, hurl and bowl the bottles like circus jongleurs. It is practised, it is perfect

Luke Jennings. The Guardian

The performers dance as they throw and catch – spinning, leaping, whipping off high-velocity air turns – and the split-second timing and the ever more complex logistics of the choreography force them into a desperate precision. Inevitably, bottles are dropped, but what Crecis is aiming for is not so much perfection as an absorption in the task so total as to lead to a loss of self

Neil Norman. The Stage

If Jorge Crecis’ Twelve makes heavy weather of heavy water, it is a fittingly mischievous finale to a very mixed bill

Philippa Newis. Bachtrack

Cleverly crafted and fast licked, Twelve, created by Jorge Crecis, rounds off the evening. Plastic bottles containing florescent glow sticks are thrown between the dancers. They tumble and slide, duck and weave; relentlessly keeping pace with an unending stream of airborne missiles. Bottle are hurled back and forth across the stage in an exchange of friendly fire. Deft team work and razor sharp hand-eye coordination have the audience on the edge of their seats. They work together like the well calibrated mechanism of an expensive Swiss watch. No-one misses a beat. Its showing off, and wonderfully so. This formidable crew thoroughly deserve 18 minutes of unabashed and frivolous attention seeking

David Dougill. The Times

Another ensemble piece, Twelve, is the programme’s finale. Jorge Crecis specialises in blending dance and sporting movements, and this is a complex athletic exercise for a dozen dancers, throwing and catching 36 plastic water bottles. The dance builds up stunning momentum and intricacy — weaving and knotting, bursting out and leaping. Exhilarating.

Zoë Anderson. The Independent

You can’t help rooting for the dancers as they sprint and dip into ever trickier combinations.

The tosses are as complex as juggling, as athletic as sports, while Crecis’s sense of stage space and movement keeps this firmly in dance territory.

Rachel Elderkin. Exeunt magazine

The bill closes on a high with Jorge Crecis’ athletic Twelve. A piece built on quick fire reactions, Twelve takes the game of catch to another level. Clusters of water bottles, lit from within by bobbing glow sticks, fill the stage. They are thrown into the air in increasingly daring patterns. Interspersed by bursts of movements it’s at once playful and military – precision and timing being key. As each routine is completed, the audience applaud. Once or twice a dancer misses, but it’s no matter – it only adds to the risk of their game. You will them to catch and, because of that, there are moments where this work has you on the edge of your seat. As they test and tease one another, we finally see these supreme dancers as themselves; team members and competitors in equal measure. It’s a fun, spirited close in which the personalities behind the performers shine through.

Vera Liber. British theatre guide

But it’s the last one that has them exclaiming out loud, Jorge Crecis’s Twelve, an eighteen-minute rhythmic and algorithmic parade or sports ground drill with thirty-six shimmering full plastic water bottles. Bottles are arranged in varying code sequences on the floor, as are the teams.

A game of double dare, speed, co-ordination and timing, and Vicenzo Lamagna’s electro-acoustic score heightens the tension as it triggers each new drill.

Formation crouches, never still, commando training camp, missiles fly, this looks fun, but what if one hit its mark, bottle trajectories longer and longer, crisscrossing in flight, more and more complex.

Kingdom. Scottish Dance Theatre

Mary Brennan The Herald. 22nd Feb. 2014 Profound, powerful and hugely demanding in terms of precision, control and team spirit, the dancers are unstinting in executing every task.

Kelly Apter The Scotsman. 22nd Feb. 2014 Crecis’ Kingdom, on the other hand, is born from a place of pure empathy. The synchronized choreography, along with the dancers’ skilful construction work, conveyed a touching sense of oneness, which brought us into their world.

Lucy Ribchester DanceTabs. March 3, 2014 A thread connecting the elemental ancient to the here and now the strength and strain of the dancers carries the piece with an energy that shows anger is timeless.

36

Katie Fish londondance.com. 27 June 2011 With 36, Spanish choreographer Jorge Crecis has masterminded a live problem solving exercise for the company with unpredictable rules and shifting roles. Exciting to watch and undeniably challenging to perform the dancers literally had the – largely school aged – audience on the edge of their seats. This is Sudoku brought to life but with no margin for error and with a pinball like focus. Described in the programme notes as a dance-sport, the piece strikes a balance between the two – the deftness of the dancer and the winning drive of the athlete. Dodging and shooting have never been so well choreographed. This is a collective of individuals sharing a common experience but making it their own.Kenneth Tharp EDge: Making The Small Big. May 2011 (…) Jorge Crecis’s closing piece, in that they managed to maintain a sense of expansiveness, speed, and energy which showed no sense of being confined, albeit that they had to dance the piece with four less dancers than usual (…) The climax of the piece involves fast and furious weaving between rows of standing bottles.

Sanjoy Roy The guardian. Exposure review. Linbury theatre London. Friday 24 February 2012 Platforms for emerging artists are often required to jettison coherence in favor of choreographic diversity. The stylistic lurches between pieces can leave you a little seasick, but sometimes you’re rewarded with a surprise (…) And the big surprise [was] Jorge Crecis’s 36, in which 12 performers pass, catch, dodge and slalom around 36 water bottles, in an exhilarating mashup of dance, sport and maths that raises your pulse and confounds your brain Hobson’s Choice; Exposure: Dance –review. Linbury Studio, London frantic, ludic Giannandrea Poesio | The spectator. On the ropes splendid dance-making.

TROUGH & OUT. R&D

Example of audience’s feedback: It was very interesting and I really liked the rawness of the skipping section and would not want that to be perfected too much. (Kerry Andrews, Artsdepot) I loved the piece – was exhausted just watching them! (Melanie Morrison, LSC, Production Administrator & Marketing Manager)

[it´s complicated]

– I thoroughly enjoyed the process. Out of all the choreographers we had worked with, the relationship between you and the group seemed really connected and we were all encouraged to do well. We were given valuable feedback and I am really pleased with the end result. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas, it was great to be challenged and I am really pleased with the end result. Thank you!

All Your Gold by Bat for Lashes.

Comments from Social Networks: Youtube: I love the way Natasha dances – it’s so raw and instinctual – like she’s singing with her body….

Deva7 her dancing gives the video the intensity of the music* it’s intense and beautiful

funnysoraia She has control of her music and body. Perfect.

mynameisbubble I LOVE THIS VIDEO. Iconic, fierce, vulnerable- the fluid camera work that follows her amazing choreography… I’m swept away… Natasha looks gorgeous. The backdrop is stunning and it perfectly mirrors the lyrics of the song: the turmoil of the sea and past hurt against the steadiness of the cliff sides and the “good man” now… I love it all. One of my favorite videos of hers to date! <333

Trans la Valo. Beijing NINE Dance Theatre.

Example of Participants’ feedback: The whole production is very surreal. It totally escapes from reality. And this kind of surrealism is very powerful. When a lot of people perform this kind of surrealistic work, they do it in a very floating, vague, fantastical, light way. But this is actually quite the opposite. It’s very heavy. Even though it’s above reality, the rhythm, the atmosphere, is all very heavy. That heaviness, for me, is one of the most meaningful parts of the piece. Your concentration has to be really high, In terms of physical ability, physical reaction,the demands are really high.

Comments from Social Networks: Weibo Barley Dance: @ wuzhi1001 ‘trans la valo’ This is a spiritual intersection of dance, the entire field will be able to feel the dancers dance from the formal efforts to explore artistic expression, the use of props is bright, exquisitely coordinated with the overall mood of dance expression, praising! (6 June 2013, 20:03)

Labyrinth of Hawara. Mapdance.

Example of Dancers’ feedback: In terms of Jorge’s own and shared inspirations and ideas the piece was very well resourced. Feel really privileged that we were able to have our own composers. It made us feel like the piece was truly ours

Comments from Social Networks: Facebook: Congratulationnnnnnnnnssssssssssssssssssssss. Amazing show. Chi till I dieeeee x. (Joe Garbett, member of the audience. 18-June-2013)

ADS. All The Names

Example of Dancers’ feedback: – I enjoyed the whole process and I gained a lot. I really appreciated working with such inspiring people. – The music was very inspiring and added an extra layer to the performance. It helped me as a dancer to accentuate the movement and created a different feeling. I believe that we needed more rehearsal time with the musicians to both feel more confident during the performance – I really enjoyed performingaLLtHEnAMESand felt it took on such a new life in the theatre so it was defiantly worth it. Please let us know of any opportunities in the future, I’d really love to work with you again!

Dr Mary Evelyn Head of Postgraduate Studies London Contemporary Dance School The Place, 17 Dukes Road, London WC1H 9PY Direct Line: 0207 121 1123 mary.evelyn@theplace.org.uk It was a great pleasure to welcome Jorge Crecis back to the postgraduate department at LCDS. His work engaged the students on all levels, encouraging physical and intellectual development through morning classes and an extended period of rehearsal during which a newly devised work came into being. Jorge was able to nurture a creative involvement from each individual, through a process, which was very challenging on many levels and thus not always easy. Discussions about the process, both during and after the rehearsals, helped them to reflect deeply on their practice and to see the work they had made together in a broader context, which was thoroughly appropriate for postgraduate level study. The end result performed initially a studio setting and then later in the Robin Howard Dance Theatre, presented us with a complex and intriguing series of relationships through the use of voice as well as physical explorations. The group sense of community was strong but individuals also came to the fore at different moments in the work, and overall a sense of commitment or ‘belonging’ to the community was balanced with and sometimes shattered by individual ‘stories’. Working with live music was a very welcome aspect of this process; while the students at LCDS are used to working with musicians in morning classes, it is relatively rare to collaborate in this way in the moment of performance and this took their understanding to a new level. Altogether it was a richly rewarding project for all concerned.